Coventry City - Meet The Opposition

8 July 2015

James Eley

We continue our look at this seasons Sky Bet League 1 opposition

It has been well over a decade since Coventry City were last competing in the Premier League. The fallen giants had spent 34 consecutive seasons in the English top flight prior to their relegation in 2001. Their relegation to Sky Bet League One in 2012 was the first time in 48 years that the cub had dropped to the third tier of English football. Here we take a closer look at the Sky Blues.

Last season:
The club were delighted to return to their own ground in the last campaign. The 2013/14 season was a nightmare for supporters as Coventry played their home games 35 miles away at Northampton’s Sixfields stadium due to a rent dispute with the Ricoh Arena’s owners.
The club did manage a minimal improvement upon the 2013/14 campaign by finishing a place higher last season in 17th. They finished on 55 points which was enough to avoid the drop despite being the third lowest scorers in the division, only finding the net 49 times.
Frank Nouble was the top league scorer for City managing six goals, 19 fewer than Preston’s Joe Garner.

The Gaffer:
Tony Mowbraw is the man in charge of the Sky Blues. The former Middlesbrough legend played over 500 games as a player for Boro, Celtic and Ipswich Town.
The 51 year old started his managerial career with Ipswich Town as an interim coach in 2002. He then moved on to Hibernian before taking over as West Bromwich Albion manager where he guided the Baggies to the Championship title in 2008. The former defender was in charge of Middlesbrough from 2010-2013, winning the October 2012 manager of the month award for the Championship.
Mowbray was announced as the Coventry City manager on the 3rd March 2015.

Stadium:
The Ricoh arena was opened in 2005 and cost a whopping £113 million to construct. The Ricoh was one of the host stadiums for the 2012 London Olympics. On August 9th 2012 the bronze medal game between France and Canada was held here, Canada won 1-0 with a stoppage time goal. The stadium was also used to host the Great Britain versus Russia tie of the 2013 Davis Cup.
With a capacity of 32,500 the Ricoh Arena is the 20th largest football ground in England.

Past Meetings:
Shrewsbury last encountered the Sky Blues in the 2013/14 League One campaign. Both games ended in stalemate. Tom Bradshaw scored for the Shrews in the 1-1 draw at the Greenhous Meadow in August 2013 before a goalless draw at the Ricoh in March 2014.